Little Big Man

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Actor Stanley J. Browne sheds vital light on addiction, mental illness, and our underfunded care system in this powerful true-to-life story about male coming-of-age. Some of his TV appearances include the 2016 Sky Vision production of "Killers: Behind the Myth" in which Stanley played the role of Tracy Burleson. In the same year, he played Taxi Driver Joe in the comedy series "Twisted Tales" a Chanel 4 production. In 2018, Stanley played William Walker in the Sky series called "Someone You Thought You Knew". Axa Hynes, right, with her foster sister Michelle Brown, also featured in the Foundling Museum photograph. Axa Hynes To embrace the warrior and the humility side of ourselves that is within us all. Learning to love you for who are and not what others perception of you is or what they may want you to be. When Allan Jenkins embarked on his gardening memoir Plot 29, he found himself writing about the “helplessness of seed” just three paragraphs in and was prompted to revisit his unsettled past, growing up in foster care in south Devon with his older brother Christopher. The memoir was warmly received, though Jenkins, who edits Observer Food Monthly, has mixed feelings about becoming a figurehead for care-experienced people. “Sometimes, if you’ve had my childhood, you try not to be defined by it,” he says. Richard Bramble

I must have been around 7 or 8 years old when this photo was taken. I had the world on my shoulders already at that point," Stanley reflects. "You can tell from my eyes and my facial expression that I was an unhappy camper and wore the thousand-yard-stare at such an early age. I felt switched off from the world and distant." In a sea of brilliantly coloured fabrics – never has clothing seemed more important to the story we tell of ourselves – TV producer and editor Janet Lee looks particularly confident in jazzy reds, hot oranges and cheeky pinks. But don’t be fooled, she says. “If we spent long enough with each other, we’d probably all start crying. Fortunately we’re all busy people, so we have to rush off.” And suddenly they’re all gone, a fleeting crowd of one-offs, whose generosity with their time and their stories has created an indelible image. Although I was born and raised in London, I would say I'm very connected to my own culture as a British Pakistani who is fluent in Urdu.

Tanya Joelle Stephenson

Natalie Hirst spent eight years living in foster care in Greater Manchester and had a mixed experience, but her resilience helped her to develop the strength and skills to overcome many challenges. “My experience has taught me the importance of having kind, supportive adults in the lives of children in care to help them feel safe, cared for and treated like one of the family,” she says. “These experiences have shaped who I am today, an independent woman, passionate about my career and working with local authorities in Greater Manchester to ensure every young person has a voice, choice and control over decisions made about them.” Michelle Brown Every one of us has a different story,” says Sissay, beaming around the room in a shirt that is playing catch-up with the sun. Johanan Walker enthusiastically nods. “We usually get the narrative told about us so it’s nice to tell it ourselves,” she says. She was taken into a mother and baby unit as a 12-year-old mum, and had to fight to keep her daughter. Her experience of finding herself homeless and powerless after leaving care inspired her to start a campaign, calling4gr8ness.org to support young care leavers in the same predicament.

Complex and darkly satisfying, One Under proves that when drama moves beyond formula, anything can happen.' Spy In The StallsAn evocative thriller of intertwining stories, One Under explores the unanswered questions left behind when someone vanishes from our lives. What I learnt about myself is the realisation that I have actually survived my trauma. I already knew how far I had come, but I almost belittled the trauma over the years because of my successes. Writing this memoir emphasised why I felt compelled to share my story with others in the first place. When Luis De Abreu was nine, he travelled from Madeira to join his mother in Jersey, where she’d been working for several years. Soon afterwards she died of cancer and De Abreu ended up, after several foster placements, living in the notorious Jersey children’s home Haut de la Garenne. He was badly bullied at school and his education “suffered terribly”, but he “soldiered on” and enrolled at Bird College aged 22 to study dance and musical theatre. He is now Bird’s principal and artistic director. Martin Figura I would say definitely invest in a ghost writer! Just to help get you started or at the very least help you to put a proposal together. There is a format the industry recognises, so it makes sense to start on the right foot, see it as an investment in yourself. Once you understand the logistics of how to go about things, then the rest will flow.